How To Remove An Integrated Dishwasher

Sadly, dishwashers won’t last forever, no matter how sturdy, expensive or high quality they are. Once they do eventually break down or need replacing, you need to know how to get rid of them, which can be a daunting task if your dishwasher is an integrated one since it is woven into the rest of your kitchen. 

Fortunately, our white goods disposal team is geared up with years of knowledge and have compiled this quick and easy guide on how to remove a built-in dishwasher to make the process simple and stress-free. 

Before sliding the unit out, you should check if there are any rollers beneath the integrated dishwasher. Without sliders or rollers, you will risk causing irreversible damage to your kitchen floor. 

If there are not any rollers attached, you should use furniture sliders to pull it out instead, but be careful not to pull it out too far, since it should not go beyond the length of the hose hookups. To further avoid damage being caused to the floor, we also recommend placing a towel, or some soft material down as a barrier between the unit and the flooring. 

The next stage requires you to turn the power off first. Since integrated dishwashers tend to be hard-wired, you may not be able to simply find a cord to unplug. Instead, you will need to turn the power off at the main electrical panel as this will prevent the power from accidentally switching on at the site. 

Once the power is shut off, you should go on to shut off the water supply too. This can be done by finding the shut-off valve, typically situated in the cabinet beneath the sink. You should then shut off the valve, but you may also want to cut off the main water supply temporarily too if your valve is suffering from a leak or corrosion to ensure that the water supply is cut off entirely whilst you get to work removing the built-in dishwasher. 

Next, you need to unscrew the screws which are found at the front of the machine and connect the dishwasher to the countertop above. Once these have been removed, you will be able to carefully disconnect and remove the dishwasher from the countertop. 

When removing the dishwasher, you should ensure that there is some towel or cardboard in front of it to protect the floor.

In order to access the wiring needed for the next stages, you will then need to remove the cover of the box junction. The junction box is essentially an electrical box, which is covered by some surface material. This is most commonly found on the lower back area of the dishwasher and you need to remove the surface material to expose various wire nuts that connect black and white wires straight from the dishwasher to the power source. 

A bare ground wire will connect to the box with some green-coloured screws. To ensure that the circuit is definitely off before removing the wires and cords, you should use a voltage tester and disconnect the wiring. Then, as you take the electrical cord out of the junction box, you should put wire nuts at the end of each of the different wires, and move them.

For this next step, you will need to disconnect three different lines:

1. The hot water supply line 
2. The discharge line 
3. The electrical line 

The first and third of these lines are most typically found underneath the unit, just above the floor.

Now that you have disconnected those lines, you next need to loosen the compression fitting. To do this, you first need to get rid of the access panel which covers it, which can be done by removing a few screws. From there, you should use either pliers or an open-end box wrench (whichever you have handy) to slowly loosen the compression fitting, mopping up any leaking water as you do so. 

(A) Remove the water line 

Once that is done, you need to find the water inlet beneath the dishwasher machine and unscrew the nut whilst holding the inlet securely in position. Once again a towel, bucket and basin will come in handy here, since as you remove the water line, some of the water that remains in the pipes may leak out. 

(B) Disconnect the drain line 

For the final few stages, you need to detach/disconnect the drain line. This tends to be held in place using a clamp. 

Now that all of the fiddly work is done, it is time to get rid of any water still in the dishwasher, ready to dispose of it. 

Before you get rid of or transport your dishwasher, you need to be sure that there is no water trapped inside it. This not only will cause dampness and a build-up of grime, but it will also leak. 

To ensure that there is no water remaining inside the dishwasher, you need to place the unhooked hose ends of the line into a basin or bucket, where the remaining water can slowly drain out. In most integrated dishwashers on the market, there is a small fixture at the back of the dishwasher for the purpose of draining, which makes the task that bit easier. 

One thing that we do not recommend doing, however, is tipping the dishwasher to get the water out quickly since this is messy and can cause damage. Although, we also recommend having quite a few spare towels on hand to clean up and prevent water damage to your flooring. 

With the dishwasher now disconnected, drained and separated from the counters in your kitchen, you need to decide what to do with it. Since dishwashers are white goods and WEEE waste, they require special disposal and recycling methods, which is why we recommend calling on a professional waste management team to help. 

If you are based in London, we offer the following:

• Same-day white goods removal services, meaning that you don’t need to leave your old dishwasher lying around to collect dust.
• Small and large collections, meaning that we can collect your dishwasher and any other unwanted furniture or rubbish too.
• The assurance that your old dishwasher will be disposed of ethically and responsibly in line with white goods disposal laws. We recycle or reuse over 80% of the waste that we collect.
• Fast, efficient and reliable waste removal teams who take pride in their work.
• Affordable prices across all of our waste management services.
• Fixed, free no-obligation quotes.

To enquire or make a booking for white goods removal, contact us today and we will be able to provide a free, fixed no-obligation quote.

We also happen to be experienced in all aspects of furniture disposal too, which is why we are widely regarded as the best rubbish removal company in London.